I have been posting a month’s worth of picture book read aloud recommendations for Native American Heritage Month since 2021. Below you will find all four years worth — 120 titles you could choose from — for sharing with children in your life that honor Native American cultures, peoples, and traditions.

The National Congress of American Indians explains the purpose of Native American Heritage Month.

“The month is a time to celebrate rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories and to acknowledge the important contributions of Native people. Heritage Month is also an opportune time to educate the general public about tribes, to raise a general awareness about the unique challenges Native people have faced both historically and in the present, and the ways in which tribal citizens have worked to conquer these challenges.”

The research I did for my multicultural children’s literature course in my MLIS program, and what I have learned from Dr. Debbie Reese at American Indians in Children’s Literature, informs the lens I use when evaluating picture books with Indigenous characters. Even with this, being a cultural outsider, I will still make mistakes as I am constantly learning and growing my critical analysis perspectives.

The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), an incredible Smithsonian museum in Washington, D.C., has a checklist Worksheet for Selecting Native American Children’s Literature that is also super helpful! It focuses on five main areas of analysis: Authority, Accurate Representation, Tribal Specificity, Language, & Contemporary Life.

We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) also has an initiative supporting Indigenous Reads Rising. It’s a fabulous resource to ensure you’re getting quality Native representation in your classroom along with advice to support educators.

Support independent bookstores + my work by shopping this list at bookshop.org!

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*Click the title to be taken to that year’s post with all titles listed out.*

Native American Heritage Month 2024

Native American Heritage Month 2023

Native American Heritage Month 2022

Native American Heritage Month 2021

In addition, we spent the past year in an ELA curriculum adoption cycle at my school. Throughout the process of selecting a knowledge building curriculum that still supports our literacy values I was reminded of something that is at the heart of my work: read alouds have a place in our schools and classrooms at every level. #ClassroomBookADay is not going away. One thing I know for sure is that a high volume of intentionally selected read alouds gives us an opportunity to create joyful experiences around text and provide so many more benefits. It evens the playing field for all kids by making text accessible. It allows us to connect more deeply to topics and themes and build background and content knowledge. It provides opportunities to bring in representation that might otherwise be missing from the rest of the curriculum. And that brings value to the time we dedicate to read aloud. Think back to your school experiences: what was most memorable to you? I’d be willing to bet there is a read aloud or two that made a strong enough impact on your developmental years that you still remember it to this day. And that still matters for today’s kids to have.

So, what am I doing with this post? Reminding myself, and all of you, of what matters. Reclaiming this space as a place for my personal reflection and learning through writing about education and librarianship and books. But also relieving myself of the pressure to *have* to post regularly. Having this space is important, and I hope you find value in the posts it contains, but I also need to find that balance more and more, so this is that disclaimer that when I have something to say, I will share it, and I hope you stick around for those periodic times.

This has always been a space for me to recommend books – and with the Caldecott Committee year, that has to be on a hiatus – but it will be back next year. And goodness am I excited to tell you about some of the 2025 picture books that have blown me away! But that will have to wait until after the announcements of the winners and honors in January.

In the meantime I am continuing to deepen my understanding of art in children’s literature and growing more detailed in my critical analysis skills. And we have a long way to go yet – it’s only June! That has been one of the most unanticipated aspects of this experience so far, for which I am so grateful: I hadn’t realized being part of the committee is also like taking a college course about children’s literature! It has been fantastic to do that reading alongside so very many picture books.

There are parts of the award committee process that we are required to keep confidential forever to provide a safe environment in which to have deep and honest discussions throughout the reading year and deliberation discussions. That said, I am able to share my personal opinions about any books after the committee part is completed and announced. And I can’t wait for that, so please stick around for the book recommendations to come when that time arrives!

The National Congress of American Indians explains the purpose of Native American Heritage Month.

“The month is a time to celebrate rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories and to acknowledge the important contributions of Native people. Heritage Month is also an opportune time to educate the general public about tribes, to raise a general awareness about the unique challenges Native people have faced both historically and in the present, and the ways in which tribal citizens have worked to conquer these challenges.”

Visit my previous year’s posts for more background, resources, links, and information around teaching Native American history, heritage, and contributions – linked at the end of this post.

The research I did for my multicultural children’s literature course in my MLIS program, and what I have learned from Dr. Debbie Reese at American Indians in Children’s Literature, informs the lens I use when evaluating picture books with Indigenous characters. Even with this, being a cultural outsider, I will still make mistakes as I am constantly learning and growing my critical analysis perspectives.

The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), an incredible Smithsonian museum in Washington, D.C., has a checklist Worksheet for Selecting Native American Children’s Literature that is also super helpful! It focuses on five main areas of analysis: Authority, Accurate Representation, Tribal Specificity, Language, & Contemporary Life.

We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) also has a new initiative supporting Indigenous Reads Rising. It’s a fabulous new resource to ensure you’re getting quality Native representation in your classroom along with advice to support educators.

Support independent bookstores + my work by shopping this list at bookshop.org through my affiliate link!

A #BookADay for Native American Heritage Month 2024

2024 TITLES
This Land: The History of the Land We’re On
Summer’s Magic: An Indigenous Celebration of Nature
Chooch Helped
Métis Like Me
Circle of Love
Wisdom Weavers
Loaf the Cat Goes to the Powwow
Being Home
Wings of an Eagle: The Gold Medal Dreams of Billy Mills
The Hawk Shadow
I Am Osage: How Clarence Tinker Became the First Native American Major General
Let’s Go!
Boozhoo! Hello!
Too Much: My Great Big Native Family
Can You Hear the Plants Speak?
When the Stars Came Home
Click, Clack! SMACK! A Cherokee Stickball Story
Grampy’s Chair
Stitches of Tradition (Gashkigwaaso Tradition)
What’s in a Bead?
Dance Fast
It’s Powwow Time!
Why We Dance: A Story of Hope and Healing
On Powwow Day
Kindred Spirits / Shilombish Ittibachvffa
Mnoomin Maan’gowing / The Gift of Mnoomin
When We Gather (Ostadahlisiha): A Cherokee Tribal Feast
At Our Table
Winter’s Gifts: An Indigenous Celebration of Nature
An Anishinaabe Christmas

Don’t Miss Previous Posts with More Information & Title Recommendations!

Native American Heritage Month 2022

Native American Heritage Month 2021

And in 2022, I shared my original list of some favorites…

I choose to put the focus on the main point of the activism week from the positive stance of what we’re promoting vs the negative actions of banning books and restricting access to stories and violating rights of readers to decide for themselves

a reminder that one of the most often banned & challenged children’s books is a TRUE STORY of some penguins from Justin Richardson (an assistant professor of psychiatry at Columbia and Cornell) & Peter Parnell (a playwright) & illustrated by Henry Cole. Read my interview with the authors of the book!

Published in 2005, And Tango Makes Three was in the top ten most challenged and/or banned books from 2006-2019. It was the joint most-banned picture book of 2022 tied with two others with LGBTQIA+ themes. It has now been challenged in 32 states.

Those are disheartening statistics as it is valuable for educators to share books about the diversity of people, experiences, and family structures in our communities. Kids get to see the world reflected and how love is at the core of all kinds of families. Plus, penguins are cute.?

As Honorary Banned Books Week Chair Ava DuVernay says, “I believe that censorship is the enemy of freedom. By banning books, we deny ourselves opportunities to learn from the past and to envision a braver future. Books have the power to open minds and build bridges.”

And now, with this special new School & Library edition, you get more value including a new afterword from award-winning author Eliot Schrefer, a special note for educators on the freedom to read from the authors, resources if you are faced with a challenge, and a note to educators on how to handle discussions about families in age-relevant ways. This School & Library edition is a fantastic update for every school library collection.

Other titles you may want to highlight and share

In the 2021-22 school year, there were 1,648 books banned, of which 317 were picture books, with 19 banned multiple times.
Those included:
Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag
I Am Jazz
And Tango Makes Three
Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation
Worm Loves Worm
When Aidan Became a Brother
We March
We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga
The Name Jar
Sulwe
Stella Brings the Family
Sparkle Boy
Sing a Song: How Lift Every Voice and Sing Inspired Generations
Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat
In Our Mothers’ House
The Baby Tree
Everywhere Babies
They She He Easy as ABC
The Family Book
Call Me Max

I have heard stories about challenges to these books that also appear on these lists:
Prince & Knight
Love, Violet
Papa, Daddy, & Riley
I’m Not a Girl

For the 2022-23 school year, PEN American tracked 3354 book challenges. I scanned through and found these picture books (including all of the ones from above) that were challenged / removed / banned:
I is for Immigrants
This Day in June
Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress
Uncle Bobby’s Wedding
Fred Gets Dressed
Something Happened in Our Town
All Because You Matter
Mixed: A Colorful Story
Before She Was Harriet
The ABCs of Black History
Milo Imagines the World
10,000 Dresses
Bodies Are Cool
Calvin
Maiden and Princess
Red: A Crayon’s Story (side note: the author explains the book relates to his experience with dyslexia)
Love Is…
The 1619 Project: Born on the Water
Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness
Mother Bruce

The Day You Begin

Not Quite Snow White
Jacob’s New Dress
Black is a Rainbow Color
Antiracist Baby
My Princess Boy
Families! Families! Families!
Julián at the Wedding
Julián Is a Mermaid
Hands Up!
Zen Shorts
It’s Okay to Be Different
The Family Book
Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope
All Are Welcome
Peaceful Fights for Equal Rights
Not Quite Narwhal
It Feels Good to Be Yourself: A Book About Gender Identity
Grandad’s Camper

You may be noticing some trends if you know these titles:
Overall in 2023, 47% of total titles targeted for censorship represent the lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC individuals.

So what can you do?

Fight for the right of every family to choose for their own child(ren) what is right for them and not allow someone else to limit that by censoring titles available in libraries.

*Speak at a school board meeting or send a letter to your local school board to let them know that you support the freedom to read and inclusive collections that represent the cultural diversity and pluralistic nature of this society and our world. That you don’t believe the identities of characters or authors/illustrators shall deem materials inappropriate for age groups and that specific incidents of controversial content shall not automatically disqualify materials from library collections – works should be taken as a whole to determine their value and age-relevance. (Side note: I use age-relevance because age-appropriate is a more subjective term, while age-relevance is more objective.)

*Reach out to your school librarian and let them know you support them in these efforts – put it in writing & cc the administrators, curriculum directors, and superintendents!

*Raise your voice as loudly as those who seek to ban books and ensure it gets heard. Encourage your friends and family to do the same! The loud voices are the ones that are heard most often, but that doesn’t mean they are the majority.

*Vote – for the major and local elections!

*Buy, request, and share all kinds of books, and celebrate fREADom.

And follow Kelly Jensen’s advice, as an author and advocate who has long and loudly been supporting and reporting on the freedom to read, on “How to Fight Book Bans in 2024“

As Maggie Tokuda-Hall, cofounder and national team leader for Authors Against Book Bans wrote for Book Riot, “Every year in September, libraries, independent bookstores, and schools all over the country celebrate Banned Books Week. Often, there’s a display put up with a hand-lettered sign featuring beloved and historically banned books like To Kill a Mockingbird, and Captain Underpants. But the time to quietly erect a display has come and gone. We are fighting a new fight now, one that depends on our fear. It is time to fight accordingly. It’s time to be brave.

Banned Books Week is “an invitation to all of us to put a spotlight on this issue and use it as a galvanizing force to protect our children. Not from the books like Everyone Poops, but from the forces that would see our children cheated of a wiser, bigger, more resilient version of themselves.”

While classics can be a valuable resource, and a book’s age doesn’t automatically disqualify it, with the vast advancements the children’s literature industry has made in authentic and inclusive representation, it necessitates evaluation of books you select with a more critical eye toward ensuring all identities are seen and valued and honored in schools. For that reason, I encourage you to branch out from what may have been used for the last thirty years into some of the newer titles that can provide similar conversations while encouraging a deeper sense of belonging and understanding for all students.

Instead of Chrysanthemum, try one of these newer titles!

My Name is Saajin Singh
Becoming Vanessa
Tell Teach Us Your Name
Call Me Max
Kantiga Finds the Perfect Name
Your Name is a Song
My Name is Long as a River
My Name
Yefferson, Actually
Banana Dream
My Name is Not Ed Tug
Do You Even Know Me?
Alma and How She Got Her Name
The Girl Who Named Pluto
The Arabic Quilt
THAO
My Name is Aviva
Josie Dances
I Am Not a Fish!
What’s Your Name?
Calvin
The Boy Who Tried to Shrink His Name
My Name is Sangoel
Always Anjali
Say My Name
Sora’s Seashells
That’s Not My Name!
Baba, What Does My Name Mean?: A Journey to Palestine
My Name is Bana
Naming Ceremony
Joyful Song: A Naming Story

You can shop this list, & many more for your personal or classroom collection, at my Bookshop page to support independent bookstores + my work.

To that aim, I decided to test out a format for my new idea with an AANHPI resource. And I am offering it for half off for this sneak peek release! Even though we are halfway through May, these books are still good for reading and sharing any time of the year. This particular list ended up with 330 titles you could choose from!!

There are two parts to the resource, both available as editable Google files on my ko-fi shop:
One is a Doc file with all of the cover images for the picture books I recommend for that month – easy to just copy and paste into your printing template for your cbad display. The other is a Sheets file with the basic information for all of the tiles: author, illustrator, publication year, series, fiction or nonfiction, awards, & themes/topics in BISAC Subject Headings. Plus checkboxes for own, favorite (pre-filled with my favs to narrow down the list), and tracking which ones you’ve read. The spreadsheets can be added on to month after month as a whole file or separate tabs to best meet your organization preferences.;)

Each monthly list will be offered as individual files ($4 for covers, $5 for database) or $7 for the bundle of both. There will be 12 for a whole year’s worth of recommendations.

And you can pre-buy a membership subscription – with the files emailed throughout the 2024-25 school year – for 1/2 price bundles!

Building a Year of #ClassroomBookADay Lists

August: Back-to-School & Community Building
September: Hispanic Heritage Month
October: Spooky Season & Elections/Voting
November: Native American Heritage Month
December: Family & SEL
January: Disability / Neurodivergence / Mental Health
February: Black History Month
March: Women’s History Month
April: Arab American Heritage Month & Earth Day
May: Asian American/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage & Jewish American Heritage Month
June: Pride Month
July: Holidays Throughout the Year

Be sure to check out my ko-fi shop for all my #ClassroomBookADay resources, and feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

I did some brainstorming, some crowdsourcing, and some searching through my Goodreads shelves to come up with these 79(!!) names, which I hope will provide MORE than enough options to find what you might need.

In order to cover a weeklong study, I limited my picks to authors and illustrators who have published at least five picture books. There are some whose fifth work may appear in a compilation book, but I included them anyway because their body of work is strong (and some weeks we only have four days). Who makes these rules?! It’s me. Hi. I’m the problem. It’s me. LOL! In addition, for some significantly underrepresented identities (like Arab creators), I used a 3 book criteria due to the fact that they often have a more difficult time even getting to publish traditionally in the first place.

The beauty of using author/illustrator studies is that it provides students with the chance to not only enjoy great stories, but to also go deeper into analyzing craft, both visual and written, and to identify important themes and characteristics through compare/contrast methods. These types of analysis skills integrate wonderfully into the larger benefits of #ClassroomBookADay and literacy standards.

You can find a few of the titles I recommend most highly
from some of my favorites on the list (bolded below) on Titlewave®.

Here are an additional 18 favorites for author/illustrator studies who don’t fit the inclusive representation parameters, but would be fabulous options if you’re looking to update your selections to feature more recently published picture books!

Cale Atkinson
Chris Barton
Mike Boldt
Ame Dyckman
Deborah Freedman
Josh Funk
Hannah E. Harrison
Ryan T. Higgins
Molly Idle
Steve Jenkins
Corinna Luyken (check out the SEL Educator Guide I created for her books!)
Gianna Marino
Kate Messner
Pat Zietlow Miller
Dev Petty
April Pulley Sayre
Melissa Stewart
Bethan Woollvin

Full List of 79 Creators for Inclusive Author/Illustrator Studies

Jacqueline Alcantara
Hatem Aly
Ana Aranda
Derrick Barnes
Vanessa Brantley-Newton
Monica Brown
Lesa Cline-Ransome
Nidhi Chanani
Tami Charles
Elisa Chavarri
Jason Chin
Charlene Chua
Bryan Collier
Raúl Colón
Floyd Cooper
Mike Curato
Anika Aldamuy Denise
Angela Dominguez
Margarita Engle
Leo Espinosa
The Fan Brothers
Raissa Figueroa
Julie Flett
A.G. Ford
Ebony Glenn
Michaela Goade

Nikki Grimes
Rudy Gutierrez
Vashti Harrison
Ekua Holmes
Kaylani Juanita
Aya Khalil
Hena Khan
Jaime Kim
Rajani LaRocca
Minh Lê
Grace Lin
Carole Lindstrom
Rafael López
Kyle Lukoff
Kelly Starling Lyons
Juana Martinez-Neal
Erika Meza
Daniel Miyares
Magdalena Mora
Oge Mora
Yuyi Morales
Frank Morrison
Kadir Nelson
Lesléa Newman
Debbie Ridpath Ohi
Sara Palacios

Charly Palmer
John Parra
LeUyen Pham
Dow Phumiruk
Jerry Pinkney
James E. Ransome
Amber Ren
Christian Robinson
Isabel Roxas
Dan Santat
Kabir & Surishtha Sehgal
Jessie Sima
Monique Gray Smith
Nikkolas Smith
Traci Sorell
Don Tate
Theodore Taylor III
Raúl the Third
Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow
Duncan Tonatiuh
Christian Trimmer
Luisa Uribe
Eric Velasquez
Carole Boston Weatherford
Jacqueline Woodson
Katie Yamasaki
M.O. Yuksel

I have been sharing titles for Reading Across the Diverse Regions of America for several years now.

To help in efforts to have a more diverse & inclusive focus for students, in 2020, I shared a list of 50 inclusive picture book read aloud alternatives.

In 2021, I selected 5 titles for each of the 5 regions of the United States (Northeast, Southeast, South, West, Midwest) you could use to truly represent and Read Across the Regions of America.

Then in 2022 I updated the title selection to ensure each had a copyright-compliant read aloud video available for a reading road trip.

For 2023, because finding enough videos that didn’t violate copyright was getting difficult, I decided to just recommend titles for people to find at their school or public libraries for the week. I also added a selection of titles for a Nationwide category in addition to the five regions. You can find that curated selection on Titlewave® also.

And now, for 2024, I wasn’t even sure I was going to do a new set since I wasn’t sure I’d read enough titles to fit each region, but with a little bit of last minute help from members of the #ClassroomBookADay group on Facebook, I was able to get to 5 titles for each of the 5 regions + nationwide, so we have a new list for March 4th-8th!

I’m sharing them in a slideshow embedded in this post, but you can also view it in Google Slides. This year’s slideshow encompasses all of the covers of the books I’ve recommended over the years all in one place.

READ ACROSS the Diverse Regions of AMERICA
2024 Edition

If you prefer an editable copy of this slideshow for yourself,
it is available on my ko-fi shop page.

You can shop these lists & others to support independent bookstores + my work at my Bookshop page!

Because we cannot let nostalgia guide our decisions. Because we cannot allow racist or stereotyped imagery to be part of what we promote through our read aloud choices. Because we cannot refuse to move on from the past and bypass our responsibility to represent the entirety of what America is about today. 

I originally shared some of the information that follows in my 2021 post for Read Across America Day, but it is important context to understand why there is a focus on diversity of stories and representations in these lists.

Several years ago NEA changed the focus of Read Across America away from Dr. Seuss and to “Celebrating a Nation of Diverse Readers” – moving away from a singular focus on, and raising up of, one white male author who has a history of racist imagery* and toward a year-long celebration of the diversity that makes our country what it is. Yet many schools still cling to the tradition without using a critical lens to consider what message the year after year celebration of just one author sends to students. Dr. Seuss can be both a beloved author AND ALSO problematic. So it’s time to move away from a day and week celebrating Seuss and into a focus on inclusive choices that more kids can relate to and showcase our nation as a diverse society.
*If you’re unaware of the issues with Dr. Seuss, see the links below.*

If you are looking for alternatives to traditional purposes for Dr. Seuss books, this post from Teach for the Change on Instagram is a good starting point. 

*If you’re unaware of the issues with Dr. Seuss, these links will provide helpful context:
The Cat is Out of the Bag: Orientalism, Anti-Blackness, and White Supremacy in Dr. Seuss’s Children’s Books

Is the Cat in the Hat Racist? Read Across America Shifts Away From Dr. Seuss and Toward Diverse Books (School Library Journal)

Thread from The Conscious Kid in the #DisruptTexts slow chat

New Study Published on Racism and Dr. Seuss (School Library Journal)

A Google Slideshow covering 233 titles, in 7 categories,
with book covers linking directly to copyright-compliant video
read alouds of recommended picture books.

Use for Black History Month & all year!

Categories include:
(a purposeful, intentional start with positive portrayals)
Black Joy & Magic
Families
Natural Hair
Empowering Stories
Black History
Excellence / Innovators / History Makers (Biographies)
Racial / Community Awareness

Direct Link to view in Google Slides & add a shortcut to your Drive.

If you prefer an editable version of your own, you can find the listing for a force copy link in my ko-fi shop.

Where did the idea for this come from?
On June 16, 2020 I first posted the Honoring Black Lives Virtual Picture Book Library with the note below. I then shared an updated version on January 21, 2022. This year I decided to update the formatting to clean things up a bit while also double checking all links. I also included many new titles I recommend for Black History Month and beyond.

^{After the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor just weeks apart led to an increase in public protests against police brutality toward Black Americans, many adults were looking for books to read to students/children. There were also calls to honor (and pay for) the work of Black creatives in the kidlit industry. At the same time, teachers across the country were finishing the school year virtually as school buildings were closed due to the global pandemic. This was a way to help.} 

^{As a librarian seeing a need for access to picture book read alouds that honor the copyright of Black authors & illustrators (by having permission to share public videos of full read alouds of their books) and knowing work around inclusive representation includes a call to choose contemporary stories that share Black joy and not just historical and current oppression, it was clear a curated resource collection could be helpful for many educators. The search for videos began with an intentional focus on stories of Black joy and magic and ones with empowering messages and showcasing contributions Black people have made, along with some that more directly address racialized issues in American society. An effort was also made to intentionally highlight books from Black creators, with few exceptions.}  

Graphic novels ARE “real” reading!!! 

In all my interactions with K-8 readers throughout my 17-year career as a classroom teacher and librarian, there has been one constant – graphic novels. They may be even more popular and validated in the publishing world now than perhaps ever before. However, even 15 years ago, my readers were always drawn to them. When I am ready to dismiss students to go find books to check out in my library, I have to ensure I am not in the pathway that leads right to the graphic novels! They are just that popular!

There is something magical (and yes, scientific) about the combination of text and visuals in a book. It creates a stronger reading experience for those readers who are striving to improve, as well as those who are already far above their grade level. Literacy specialists Harvey and Ward explain, “The combination of accessibility and literary richness makes graphic novels a uniquely satisfying format for striving readers!” 

Making the jump from picture books to chapter books to novels can be a different path for every individual student. In many cases, graphic novels help bridge the gap in a scaffolded way. Author of the Hilo series, Judd Winick, says, “Graphic novels allow the reluctant reader to slide into the story without as much of the heavy lifting as prose might require.”

This has always been most apparent in my striving readers. They will thrive when finding a sense of accomplishment instead of being discouraged by a frustrating reading experience. Whether it is the speed at which they can read them, the visual support, the topics, the way the plot moves, the ability to see emotions, the story they connect with, information they learn, or just because they can read the same thing that their friends are reading, my striving readers absolutely grow with graphic novels when they are supported and encouraged to choose them as a valid form of reading. I want to encourage anything that creates excitement around, and engagement in, reading! I must meet them where they are; and in an increasingly technological world with an ever-growing need for visual literacy, kids swarm to the graphic novel section, so that’s where we, as educators, should be, too.

It’s up to us to better understand the value and depth of thinking that comes with the graphic novel format. I may start conversations with readers by using wordless picture books as a whole class lesson (perhaps even as a #ClassroomBookADay read aloud) to have discussions and point out the skills and strategies that are needed for reading visuals. This is a natural scaffold into graphic novels. As educator Shana Frazin shares, “It’s not that comics are lacking in sophistication, it’s that we teachers are lacking in the practice of seeing the complexity in these texts.”

BENEFITS & SKILL DEVELOPMENT

Graphic novels lend themselves to helping develop many beneficial skills for readers. Some of which include:

• Advanced Vocabulary with Visual Support
• All Reading Strategies & Literacy Skills!
• Building Schema
• Characterization
• Content is More Accessible
• Critical Thinking & Analysis
• Developing Empathy
• English Language Acquisition & Development
• Flashbacks (visual cues)
• Increased Volume of Reading
• Inferencing (seen and unseen)
• Less Intimidating than a Page Full of Words
• Memory Retention
• Mood and Tone (panel arrangement, colors, shapes, etc.)
• Multimodal Synthesis (Linguistic, Visual, Gestural, Spatial, Aural)
• Perspective
• Plot Structure (often linear storylines)
• Print Awareness
• Reader Confidence & Self-Perception
• Reading Texts Above Independent Level
• Reading Enjoyment Improves
• Rereading for Depth of Comprehension & Noticing Details
• Sequencing
• Social-Emotional Learning (expressions and emotions)
• Speed in Finishing Books More Quickly
• Symbolism
• Synthesizing Information
• Theme
• Using Context Clues to Deepen Comprehension
• Visual Cues that Support Understanding of Text
• Visual Literacy (colors, textures, angles, panels, speaking/thinking bubbles, backgrounds, emotions, etc.)
• Visual Support for Decoding & Comprehension

INCORPORATING IN THE CLASSROOM

Independent Reading

Teacher Donalyn Miller exclaims, “Let my people read!”

If your students will be most engaged in graphic novels during independent reading time, meet them there. Come into a conference with a graphic novel reader with the same types of questions you would ask during any independent reading conferring session. Add in some additional questions around the visual elements of the text. Graphic novels are a unique format, and each element has a way to be interpreted by a reader. See the guide to graphic novels from Scholastic for some excellent examples! 

Let’s be real: There is a ton of inference work happening when reading graphic novels, and some social and emotional learning work, too. Just like a reading conference about any book, you know your students and should be able to quickly tell if they are comprehending the story, even if you haven’t read it yet yourself. Make sure to have them show you the text and visual evidence to support their claims and understandings.

Book Clubs

Using graphic novels is a great way to validate the value of the format! How?

• Same Book Groups
• Different Book Groups
• Genre Groups
• Series Groups

No matter which way you choose to have students grouped, or even if you switch it up throughout, you can use generic questions that apply to any book that students can discuss in multiple ways. Questions around visual elements, plot elements, characterization, and theme can all be answered using text evidence (written or illustrated) to help readers grow while addressing multiple literacy standards.

Read Alouds or Mentor Texts

Just as you might use a picture book as a mentor text or a novel as a read aloud, you can use a graphic novel also. Simply set up your document camera or check out an eBook copy and ensure all students can see the projection on the screen. Whether you want students to just enjoy a story together or are looking to teach specific reading or writing strategies, by using a graphic novel, you are implicitly messaging to students that there is value in the format as both a reader and as a writer. 

Interested in more concrete ways to use graphic novels more with your students? I share seven methods, along with recommended book lists, in this free, downloadable flyer (preview below).

With so many ways to incorporate these texts into your curriculum, don’t miss out on including such a valuable reading resource! Support your striving (& thriving) readers with graphic novels and create even more excited, engaged students!

For Further Reading, SOURCES I CONSULTED

• “A Guide to Using Graphic Novels with Children and Teens” (Scholastic)
• “Comics and Literacy” (2019, ALIA Graphic NOvels and Comics)
• “Don’t be afraid to let children read graphic novels. They’re real books.” (MacPherson, 2020, The Washington Post)
• “An Educator’s Guide to Graphic Novels” (Lesesne, 2009, Random House)
• From Striving to Thriving (Harvey & Ward, 2017)
• “How Graphic Novels Help Students Develop Critical Skills” (Knutson, 2018, Resilient Educator)
• “Reading Comprehension through Graphic Novels: How Comic Books and Graphic Novels Can Help Language Learners” (Meuer, 2018, MinneTESOL Journal)
• “Redefining Literacy with Graphic Novels” (James, 2014, Minnesota English Journal
• “The Research Behind Graphic Novels and Young Learners” (Morrison, 2017, Northwestern Center for Talent Development)
• Research Papers on Visual Language (Cohn, Visual Language Lab)
• “Teaching with Graphic Novels” (School Library Journal)
• “Why You Should Encourage Your Child’s Love of Graphic Novels” (Hall, 2020, Parents)
  • Research from the University of Oregon found that comic books averaged 53.5 rare or more complex words per 1,000. That’s more than children’s books which average 30.9 and even adult books at 52.7!

There will never be one specific list to read because #ClassroomBookADay is intended to be responsive to your classroom/school community’s needs. But I have shared so many recommendation lists of titles in many places, and I recognize that accessing the recommendations means going to various spots and they are not always easily searchable. And, yes, the book covers will always take time to find and format.

This summer I decided to take some time to try to centralize this information to make it as easy as possible for you to incorporate #ClassroomBookADay into your teaching! By getting recommendations all together into one searchable document, you’ll be able to find things more quickly and easily and having the covers ready to go makes things much faster. That being said, this was A LOT of time and effort (pretty much full time work for almost a month of my summer) as it was compiling 9 years worth of recommendations in various places, so they are not free resources. At the same time, if they aren’t what you need, you can still freely access any of the information I’ve shared in the same places it has always been!

And you will now be able to access all of the specific, consolidated resources available for purchase on my Ko-Fi shop page at any time!

The new things you will now find available:

1. Digital Display Grid you can edit to make your own with yearly, semester, quarterly, biweekly, and weekly slides.
2. #ClassroomBookADay Official Logo Signage for your display.
3. Google Slideshow (in 2 parts) with pre-sized covers of all the picture books I have recommended in the first 9 years of #ClassroomBookADay in alphabetical sections (1500+ titles!!). Also included is a template for printing one week at a time that you can copy/paste the covers from the slides into. You will get a force copy link upon purchasing from my ko-fi shop. A searchable resource to easily find the book covers you need that you can edit/add to for yourself and your own collection.
4. Google Spreadsheet with the title of all the picture books I have recommended in my curated lists during the first 9 years of #ClassroomBookADay (1500+ titles!!) Includes author/illustrator, nonfiction, SEL, diversity, ownvoice, spotlights, thematic lists, calendar connections, awards and honors, topics, and checkboxes for own/read/fav. A sortable and searchable resource that you will get a copy of to sort, edit, and make your own.
5. #ClassroomBookADay BUNDLE: Includes both the Slide & Sheet resources in one bundle for a lower cost.

Things you might find in the future:

1. Thematic Lists/Cover Images in the same formats that you can easily download and copy/paste into the two main resources above.
2. Yearly updates in June for any titles I recommended during the previous school year. Will include both the Sheets database & Slides covers.
3. A #ClassroomBookADay Start Pack with resources and lots of tips.

If you have any questions about the resources, don’t hesitate to reach out! I hope these are helpful and supportive of your efforts to include this powerful element with your classroom community. I’m always open to feedback on what’s working well or requests for future resources!

If you’d like to hear more about using these books in the classroom, join me for my Pride & Less Prejudice virtual workshop on 7/26!

#SayGay #ProtectTransKids #ReadWithPride

See my 2022 list of 33 Picture Books to Share in Celebration of Pride Month.

Also visit my post with info on supporting LGBTQIA+ representation in the classroom (includes video booktalk & 20 title booklist).

Be sure to read my Q&A interview with the authors of And Tango Makes Three!

More Books for Reading with PRIDE (ALL Year Long)

2023 List

Shop this list from my bookshop page to support independent bookstores + my work!

My Moms Love Me
Bodies Are Cool
Some Bodies
True You: A Gender Journey
If You’re a Kid Like Gavin: The True Story of a Young Trans Activist
A Case of the Zaps
A Costume for Charly
Niki Nakayama: A Chef’s Tale in 13 Bites
Strong
Sam Is My Sister
Born Ready
Adventures with My Daddies
Dad and Daddy’s Big Big Family
A Home Again
I Want to Be a Vase
Not Yet a Yeti
Miss Rita, Mystery Reader
The Good Hair Day
The Spectacular Suit
What Are You? (While the summary doesn’t say this is LGBT representation, it can certainly be read that way also!)
The Mother of a Movement
The Pronoun Book
Me and My Dysphoria Monster
Door by Door: How Sarah McBride Became America’s First Openly Transgender Senator
Love Without Bounds
Patience Patches
The Wishing Flower
Kapaemahu
Payden’s Pronoun Party

2022 List

I’m Not a Girl
Love, Violet
Papa, Daddy, and Riley
Sharice’s Big Voice: A Native Kid Becomes a Congresswoman
When Aidan Became a Brother
This Day in June
Calvin
Pride Puppy!
Mama and Mommy and Me in the Middle
Hold That Thought!
My Maddy
’Twas the Night Before Pride
Tuesday is Daddy’s Day
A Plan for Pops
This Little Rainbow: A Love is Love Primer
Over the Shop (a wordless book)
Worm Loves Worm
Being You: A First Conversation about Gender
Jacob’s Room to Choose
Uncle Bobby’s Wedding (2020 updated version)
Ritu Weds Chandni
Stitch by Stitch: Cleve Jones and the AIDS Memorial Quilt
And Tango Makes Three
The Rainbow Parade
Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag
Two Grooms On a Cake: The Story of America’s First Gay Wedding
Call Me Max
My Rainbow
Grandad’s Camper
Pride Colors
My Sister Daisy
What Are Your Words?
Prince & Knight

I hope you do all you possibly can to stand up for the kids & families who deserve to see their identities / family structures represented in our schools, and for all of those who need to see it to understand the diversity in our society and world. Happy Pride!

In honor of Father’s Day,
I’m sharing a collection of 30 of my favorite picture book stories about Dads.

30 Picture Book Stories About Dads

Going Down Home with Daddy

Hair Love

Papa, Daddy, and Riley

How to Cheer Up Dad

Dad and the Dinosaur

Dad Bakes

Hike

The Perfect Seat

Bilal Cooks Daal

Astro Girl

The Storm Whale

Dandy

Franny’s Father is a Feminist

Climb On

My Papi Has a Motorcycle

Knock Knock: My Dad’s Dream for Me

Adventures with My Daddies

My Dad Used to Be So Cool

Hair Twins

Together We Ride

Papa’s Magical Water-Jug Clock

Juna and Appa

My Daddy Can Fly

Dad and Daddy’s Big Big Family

Growing an Artist

Daddy Dressed Me

Daddy Speaks Love

When Your Daddy’s a Soldier

Daddy and Me Side by Side

I Am Perfectly Designed

For Every One by Jason Reynolds (not a picture book, but a beautiful poem)

Originally performed at the Kennedy Center for the unveiling of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, and later as a tribute to Walter Dean Myers, this stirring and inspirational poem is New York Times bestselling author and National Book Award finalist Jason Reynolds’s rallying cry to the young dreamers of the world.
For Every One is exactly that: for every one. For every one person. For every one who has a dream. But especially for every kid. The kids who dream of being better than they are. Kids who dream of doing more than they almost dare to imagine. Kids who are like Jason Reynolds, a self-professed dreamer. Jason does not claim to know how to make dreams come true; he has, in fact, been fighting on the front line of his own battle to make his own dreams a reality. He expected to make it when he was sixteen. Then eighteen. Then twenty-five. Now, some of those expectations have been realized. But others, the most important ones, lay ahead, and a lot of them involve kids, how to inspire them: All the kids who are scared to dream, or don’t know how to dream, or don’t dare to dream because they’ve NEVER seen a dream come true. Jason wants kids to know that dreams take time. They involve countless struggles. But no matter how many times a dreamer gets beat down, the drive and the passion and the hope never fully extinguishes–because simply having the dream is the start you need, or you won’t get anywhere anyway, and that is when you have to take a leap of faith.
A pitch-perfect graduation, baby, or inspirational gift for anyone who needs to me reminded of their own abilities–to dream.

You Will Do Great Things by Amerie & Raissa Figueroa

From Grammy nominated singer-songwriter and book club founder Amerie, You Will Do Great Things is a lyrical, magical picture book about the great possibilities that lie ahead for our little ones, featuring illustrations by Raissa Figueroa.
A young boy’s imagination takes off as he gazes at family photos, whisking him off on a fantastical journey. Along the way, the boy tries exciting and bold new things, ventures into unexplored worlds, and forms deep connections with his multicultural heritage and the ancestors who imbue him with the strength and courage to make a difference.
Amerie has written a moving, sweeping, and deeply loving story that is inspired by her own family. It is a celebration of everything our little ones have yet to do: the great, the amazing, the strange, and the new. It’s also a lasting reminder that the loved ones in our lives will always be right there beside us–and in our hearts–cheering us on. An absolutely perfect gift for special moments from baby showers and new baby celebrations, to graduations, and everything in between.

What the Road Said by Cleo Wade & Lucie de Moyencourt

What the Road Said is the New York Times-bestselling comforting and uplifting picture book from bestselling poet and activist Cleo Wade.
Which way do I go?
That is your choice to make,
said the Road.
But what if I go the wrong way?
The Road curved a little,
almost as if it was giving me a hug, and said,
Do not worry. Sometimes we go the wrong way on our
way to the right way.
It’s okay to be afraid or to sometimes wander down the wrong path. Bestselling poet and activist Cleo Wade’s What the Road Said features illustrations by Lucie de Moyencourt and encourages us to lead with kindness and curiosity, remembering that the most important thing we can do in life is to keep going.

I Wish You More by Amy Krouse Rosenthal & Tom Lichtenheld

The #1 New York Times bestselling children’s book that’s full of endless good wishes.
From the incomparable team of author Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrator Tom Lichtenheld, this exuberant, inspirational book for kids holds more than a single wish or even three wishes–it is filled with endless good wishes. Wishes for curiosity and wonder, for friendship and strength, laughter and peace.
Whether celebrating life’s joyous milestones, sharing words of encouragement, or observing the wonder of everyday moments, this sweet book is for wishers of all ages! I Wish You More is the perfect graduation gift or baby shower book as well as an uplifting read sure to bring positivity to all who read it.

Be You by Peter H. Reynolds

A New York Times Bestseller! Creative visionary of The Word Collector, Happy Dreamer, and The Dot, #1 New York Times bestseller Peter H. Reynolds creates a joyful celebration of individuality–and staying true to Y-O-U!
Be curious…
Be adventurous…
Be brave…
BE YOU!
Discover a joyful reminder of the ways that every child is unique and special, from the beloved creator of The Dot, Happy Dreamer, and New York Times bestseller, The Word Collector. Here, Reynolds reminds readers to “be your own work of art.” To be patient, persistent, and true. Because there is one, and only one, YOU.
In the tradition of books like Oh, the Places You’ll Go! and I Wish You More comes a wholly original, inspirational celebration of individuality as only Peter H. Reynolds can create!

My First Day by Phùng Nguyên Quang & Huynh Kim Liên

A visually stunning story of resilience and determination by an award-winning new author-illustrator team, perfect for back to school.
This is no ordinary first journey. The rainy season has come to the Mekong Delta, and An, a young Vietnamese boy, sets out alone in a wooden boat wearing a little backpack and armed only with a single oar. On the way, he is confronted by giant crested waves, heavy rainfall and eerie forests where fear takes hold of him. Although daunted by the dark unknown, An realizes that he is not alone and continues to paddle. He knows it will all be worth it when he reaches his destination–one familiar to children all over the world.

I Can Be Anything Don’t Tell Me I Can’t by Dianne Dillon

Girl power! Two-time Caldecott Medalist Diane Dillon sends tigers and dinosaurs leaping off the pages as 5-year-old Zoe declares she can be anything: an archaeologist, vet, U.S. president, and more.
Zoe embraces all the wonders of our world and its infinite possibilities. “I can be anything I want to be!” she tells us, presenting herself in a range of careers. “But what if you fail?” asks a voice of doubt that attempts to undermine her confidence.Bold and sassy, Zoe swats the voice away at every turn, declaring her certainty with a charisma that will encourage us all to silence our fears. Why can’t a girl grow up to be President? Zoe can! When the voice of doubt continues, Zoe knows exactly what to say: “Go away, voice… I can be anything… but first, I have to learn to read. And don’t tell me I can’t!”
Caldecott Award-winner Diane Dillon has created a winning character who defies anything to hold her back from achieving her goals. And the key to Zoe’s future success begins when Zoe defiantly opens her book, making it clear that both confidence and reading are tools we all need to make our dreams come true.

The Galaxy Needs You by Caitlin Kenneey & Eda Kaban

Have you ever stopped to think about how there is nobody else in the galaxy who is exactly like you?
No one else is smart in the way you’re smart or is kind in the particular way you’re kind, and nobody else is brave the way you’re brave.
You are a hero in the making.
Follow along with Rey on her hero’s journey in this empowering picture book, and never forget that, just like her, you have everything inside of yourself that you need to succeed. All you have to do is reach for it….

Wherever You Go by Pat Zietlow Miller & Eliza Wheeler

An inspiring celebration of life and new experiences–perfect for graduations and fans of Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
Roads give you chances to seek and explore. Want an adventure? Just open your door.
Join an adventurous rabbit and his animal friends as they journey over steep mountain peaks, through bustling cityscapes, and down long, winding roads to discover the magical worlds that await them just outside their doors.
Award-winning author Pat Zietlow Miller’s lilting rhyme and bestselling illustrator Eliza Wheeler’s enchanting, lush landscapes celebrate the possibilities that lie beyond the next bend in the road–the same road that will always lead you home again.

Only One You by Linda Kranz

There’s only one you in this great big world. Make it a better place. Adri’s mama and papa share some of the wisdom they have gained through the years with their eager son. Their words, simple and powerful, are meant to comfort and guide him as he goes about exploring the world. This exquisitely illustrated book explodes with color and honest insights. Kranz’s uniquely painted “rockfish,” set against vibrant blue seas, make an unforgettable and truly special impression. Only One You will inspire parents and children of all ages as they swim through the sea of life.

Sometimes You Fly by Katherine Applegate & Jennifer Black Reinhardt

From Newbery Medalist and bestselling author Katherine Applegate, a sweet book of encouragement, filled with humor and insight into the effort behind any meaningful accomplishment in life. A perfect gift for baby shower, birthday, or graduation.
This gorgeous gift book, equally perfect for preschool graduations or college commencements, baby showers or birthdays, is an inspirational tribute to the universal struggles and achievements of childhood. Beginning with a first birthday, the scenes travel through childhood triumphs and milestones, coming full circle to graduation. A magical blend of succinct text and beautiful watercolors renders each moment with tenderness and humor and encourages readers to “remember then, with every try, sometimes you fail . . . sometimes you fly.”

The Blur by Minh Lê & Dan Santat

Meet a child with superhero-like abilities . . . and the parents who are racing to keep up with her in this sweetly funny picture book about the blur of childhood, from the award-winning creators of Drawn Together. A perfect gift to celebrate all of our special milestones–from graduations to birthdays and beyond!
From the very beginning, there was something different about this child… An ultrasonic voice. Fantastically elastic limbs. Super-magnetic powers. But it wasn’t until the child took her first steps that she became: THE BLUR!
Nothing can stand in her way as she takes the world by storm: always on the move and darting into danger! All too soon, she is zipping through the days, and zooming over the years…
Framed as an origin story, here is a fun superhero romp for kids, filled with bold and bright illustrations, that will pull at the hearstrings of every parent.

Three years ago, for the 5 year anniversary of #ClassroomBookADay, I started curating monthly recommendations to provide deeper book knowledge, support of a broader range of book creators, and create a way to have common books for participating educators to discuss. I called it #cbadSpotlight. Each month, September-May, I share four titles that I think deserve special attention and a place in your classroom read aloud rotation.

I hope you find titles you are excited about, some new to you, and ones that will support your efforts with your students this school year as you work to be inclusive and thoughtful with your #ClassroomBookADay read alouds! 

Shop for your #cbadSpotlight books at bookshop.org
to support indie bookstores + my work.

April 2023 #cbadSpotlight Titles

Harold the Iceberg Melts Down

Accompanied by Rebecca Syracuse’s bold, whimsical artwork, Lisa Wyzlic’s debut picture book Harold the Iceberg Melts Down is all about the importance of friendship and self-care, perfect for any young reader worried about their planet’s future.
Harold is an iceberg… lettuce. (But he doesn’t realize the “lettuce” part because part of his sticker has ripped off.) So one day when he sees a documentary about how the icebergs are melting, Harold starts to worry, thinking that he’s melting too.
As his anxiety grows and grows, and he tries to find a way to stop melting, his fellow food friends try to help him cool down in a different way.

To Change a Planet

One person.
Small, quiet,
insignificant.
But when one person,
and one person,
and one person
become many,
they can change
a planet.
Spare, poetic text and breathtaking pictures invite readers on a stirring journey that gently illuminates the causes of climate change as well as how our individual and collective actions can make the world better.
With calm, truthfulness, and beauty, To Change a Planet demonstrates the importance of caring for our planet. Eye popping explosions of color on every page create a stunning visual narrative that invites readers to find and follow the same characters through their daily lives and ultimately to a climate march on Washington, where their storylines converge.
Clear endnotes vetted by a climate expert answer a myriad of questions in simple language. Meticulously researched and brimming with hope and hands-on solutions that will edify and empower even the youngest readers, To Change a Planet is a loving ode to our only home and vital for every child, classroom, and family.

If You’re a Kid Like Gavin

A celebratory and empowering story from young trans activist Gavin Grimm, two-time Stonewall Award-winning and Newbery Honor-winning author Kyle Lukoff, and illustrator J Yang follows the true story of how a young boy stood up for himself–and made history along the way. A Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Best Book of the Year!
When you’re a kid like Gavin Grimm, you know yourself best. And Gavin knew that he was a boy–even if others saw him as a girl. But when his school took away his right to something as simple as using the boy’s restroom, Gavin knew he had a big decision to make.
Because there are always more choices than the ones others give you. Gavin chose to correct others when they got his pronouns wrong. He asked to be respected. He stood up for himself. Gavin proved that his school had violated his constitutional rights and had the Supreme Court uphold his case–bringing about a historic win for trans rights. There are many kids out there, some just like Gavin Grimm, and they might even be you.
What choices will you make?

Yoshi and the Ocean

Lindsay Moore chronicles the remarkable true story of Yoshi, a loggerhead sea turtle who traveled an astounding 25,000 miles after being released from the aquarium that rehabilitated her. Informational and awe-inspiring, Yoshi and the Ocean is a gorgeous picture book about patience, perseverance, the ocean, and finding your way home. A transformative story about the incredible journeys animals make and the interconnectedness of the natural world.
In 1997, a young loggerhead sea turtle was rescued from the ocean after an injury to her shell. The fishermen who rescued her named her Yoshi and took her to the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town, South Africa. She was rehabilitated there and grew stronger–and larger!–every day. She also became one of the most popular exhibits at the aquarium. After twenty years in captivity, Yoshi was released back into the ocean and traveled more than 25,000 miles in 1,003 days to find her way home. A tracking device on her shell transmitted data about her journey to marine biologists and turtle enthusiasts of all ages around the world.
Lindsay Moore’s gorgeous watercolor paintings enrich her moving, lyrical, and informative text. This picture book touches on topics such as conservation, oceanography, natural selection, the food chain, currents, and geography, making Yoshi and the Ocean an ideal choice for parents, teachers, librarians, and anyone interested in nature and the ocean. Includes a map of Yoshi’s journey, information about sea turtles and how you can help them, and additional resources.

May 2023 #cbadSpotlight Titles

The Carpet

This poignant story, about an Afghan refugee child and the family carpet that connects them to home, inspires readers to live and learn in love, not fear
We sip our tea and talk together,
Ruby cushions of goose feather.
The carpet is for sitting.
The Carpet follows a day in the life of an Afghan refugee child, where every moment revolves around love, family, and the carpet that connects them to home. The carpet is the centerpiece of family life, where meals, stories, laughs, and memories are shared. This moving story, inspired by the author’s life, celebrates what makes a home–no matter where you are.

You Will Do Great Things

From Grammy nominated singer-songwriter and book club founder Amerie, You Will Do Great Things is a lyrical, magical picture book about the great possibilities that lie ahead for our little ones, featuring illustrations by Raissa Figueroa.
A young boy’s imagination takes off as he gazes at family photos, whisking him off on a fantastical journey. Along the way, the boy tries exciting and bold new things, ventures into unexplored worlds, and forms deep connections with his multicultural heritage and the ancestors who imbue him with the strength and courage to make a difference.
Amerie has written a moving, sweeping, and deeply loving story that is inspired by her own family. It is a celebration of everything our little ones have yet to do: the great, the amazing, the strange, and the new. It’s also a lasting reminder that the loved ones in our lives will always be right there beside us–and in our hearts–cheering us on. An absolutely perfect gift for special moments from baby showers and new baby celebrations, to graduations, and everything in between.

My Powerful Hair

From the award-winning and bestselling author of We Are Water Protectors comes an empowering picture book about family history, self-expression, and reclaiming your identity
Our ancestors say our hair is our memories,
our source of strength and power,
a celebration of our lives.
Mom never had long hair–she was told it was too wild. Grandma couldn’t have long hair–hers was taken from her. But one young girl can’t wait to grow her hair long: for herself, for her family, for her connection to her culture and the Earth, and to honor the strength and resilience of those who came before her.
From Carole Lindstrom, author of the New York Times bestseller and Caldecott Medal winner We Are Water Protectors, and debut illustrator Steph Littlebird comes an empowering and healing celebration of hair and its significance across Indigenous cultures.

Tomatoes for Neela

Padma Lakshmi, bestselling author and host of Bravo’s Top Chef and Hulu’s Taste the Nation, and Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator Juana Martinez-Neal team up in this celebration of food and family.
“Some of my fondest memories from childhood are of cooking with the women in my family. It is the foundation for all I have spent my life working on.” -Padma Lakshmi
Neela loves cooking with her amma and writing down the recipes in her notebook. It makes her feel closer to her paati who lives far away in India. On Saturdays, Neela and Amma go to the green market and today they are buying tomatoes to make Paati’s famous sauce. But first, Neela needs to learn about all the different kinds of tomatoes they can pick from. And as Neela and Amma cook together, they find a way for Paati to share in both the love and the flavors of the day.
Bestselling author and host of Bravo’s Top Chef and Hulu’s Taste the Nation Padma Lakshmi takes young readers on an intergenerational journey full of delicious flavors and fun food facts that celebrates a family’s treasured recipes. And Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator Juana Martinez-Neal brings this circle of women to life with vivid detail and warmth. Tomatoes for Neela lovingly affirms how we can connect to other cultures, as well as to our own, through food.

Catch up on prior month’s #cbadSpotlight selections

If you missed any of the 2019-2022 selections, be sure to check them out!

I’m thrilled to celebrate the inaugural title from Allida Books
– You Are Here: Connecting Flights –
on its publication day by sharing this chat with
Linda Sue Park (co-creator of the new imprint)
Ellen Oh (editor)
Grace Lin
& Minh Lê!

<sup>A powerful and engaging exploration of contemporary Asian American identity through interwoven stories set in a teeming Chicago airport, written by award-winning and bestselling East and Southeast Asian American authors including Linda Sue Park, Grace Lin, Erin Entrada Kelly, Traci Chee, and Ellen Oh. Flying Lessons meets Black Boy Joy. 

“The individual narratives are consistently engaging and rewarding, and together they form a unique collection of interconnected stories about young, contemporary Asian American characters.”—Booklist, Starred Review

An incident at a TSA security check point sows chaos and rumors, creating a chain of events that impacts twelve young Asian Americans in a crowded and restless airport. As their disrupted journeys crisscross and collide, they encounter fellow travelers—some helpful, some hostile—as they discover the challenges of friendship, the power of courage, the importance of the right word at the right time, and the unexpected significance of a blue Stratocaster electric guitar.  

Twelve powerhouse Asian American authors explore themes of identity and belonging in the entwined experiences of young people whose family roots may extend to East and Southeast Asia, but who are themselves distinctly American. 

Written by Linda Sue Park, Erin Entrada Kelly, Grace Lin, Traci Chee, Mike Chen, Meredith Ireland, Mike Jung, Minh Lê, Ellen Oh, Randy Ribay, Christina Soontornvat, and Susan Tan, and edited by Ellen Oh.</sup>

It was an absolute joy & honor to get to spend an hour with these amazing authors chatting about their book, this imprint, and their inspirations and hopes.

I first fell in love with sloths when I met this guy in person in Costa Rica five years ago.

I also got to meet this guy up close for a feeding at the Arizona Science Center last spring!

So I was very quick to say yes to hosting this blog tour slot for Destiny Finds Her Way. I’ll take all of the sloth kidlit – especially with real life photography!

To celebrate the release of Destiny Finds Her Way by Newbery Honor winner Margarita Engle, blogs across the web are hosting guest posts from Margarita as well as the book’s photographer, Sam Trull, who is also the co-founder and Executive Director of The Sloth Institute — a sloth rescue organization based in Costa Rica. Join us for a journey behind the scenes of how these two amazingly talented women teamed up to bring this inspiring, true story to readers everywhere and learn more about sloths and the work being done to protect them.   

The Importance of the Proper Rehabilitation and Release of Sloths 

by Photographer and The Sloth Institute Executive Director Sam Trull

One of the things I am most proud of that we’ve accomplished at The Sloth Institute is creating the most successful protocol for how to properly rescue, rehabilitate and release sloths.  Destiny was a successful pupil through this program and she is now living her best life wild and free because of our protocols.

The first step to proper sloth rehabilitation is getting the diet correct.  Sloths have very complex diets and as such if the diet is not adequate the sloths will not survive or be able to be released.  We source all of our sloth diets from over 40 different species of trees.  In addition, sloths can only eat certain types of leaves from those tree species and the leaves must be collected daily to maintain freshness.  Getting the diet correct is a very complicated process.

The next step is making sure the sloths have proper places to climb and explore new aspects of their environment.  This helps them to build their confidence in climbing and decision-making skills.  An insecure sloth won’t be able to make their way through the canopy treetops or handle various kinds of weather.  Learning how to navigate the unexpected is an important aspect in a successful sloth in the wild.

Finally, the sloths must grow to the correct size to survive in the wild.  Sloth moms wean their babies between six months and one year old (depending on the species).  When rehabilitating orphaned sloths, you need to ensure they are big enough to withstand periods of food uncertainty while they learn where they can now find food in their new wild habitat.

Destiny excelled through these program steps and we are sure she is out there somewhere teaching her own babies how to be successful in the wild.  

^{Photos courtesy of Sam Trull.}

Buy | Buy on Bookshop.org | Add to GoodReads

About Destiny Finds Her Way 

^{(ages 4-8, Hardcover Picture Book, National Geographic Kids Books)}

Newbery Honor winner Margarita Engle and photographer and Sloth Institute Executive Director Sam Trull team up to bring the inspiring and true story to life of how Destiny, a motherless baby sloth, sightless in one eye and rescued by Sam in the Costa Rican rain forest, defies the odds, overcomes her obstacles of limited sight and learns the skills she will need to return to her wild, forest home.

Without her mother to protect her or teach her, Destiny is found and taken to a rescue center in Costa Rica. The little sloth soon befriends other orphaned sloths. Her poor eyesight, however, makes it hard for her to keep her balance. Eventually Destiny begins to use all of her senses to explore the world around her. But can she learn to climb? Can she master the other skills she needs to survive on her own? And will Destiny be brave enough to return to her wild, forest home?

In addition to learning about Destiny and her journey, readers are immersed in the world of sloths and sloth rescue in this uplifting story about overcoming obstacles and believing in yourself.

About the Author:

Margarita Engle is the Cuban-American author of many verse novels, memoirs, and picture books, including The Surrender Tree, Enchanted Air, Drum Dream Girl, and Dancing Hands. Awards include a Newbery Honor, Pura Belpré, Golden Kite, Walter, Jane Addams, PEN U.S.A., and NSK Neustadt, among others. Margarita served as the national 2017-2019 Young People’s Poet Laureate.  She is a three-time U.S. nominee for the Astrid Lindgren Book Award. Her most recent books are Rima’s Rebellion, Singing With Elephants, and Destiny Finds Her Way. Her next young adult verse novel is Wings in the Wild, and her next picture book is Water Day.

Margarita was born in Los Angeles, but developed a deep attachment to her mother’s homeland during childhood summers with relatives on the island.  She studied agronomy and botany along with creative writing, and now lives in central California with her husband.

Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

About the Photographer:

Sam Trull has been a photographer and a wildlife biologist for decades. After many expeditions to Madagascar, West Africa, and Central America, in January 2013, she settled in Costa Rica, where she co-founded and is the executive director of the Sloth Institute.  Her first photo book, Slothlove, was published in April 2016.

Website | Instagram

About the Sloth Institute:

The Sloth Institute (TSI) is a nonprofit organization located in Costa Rica with the mission to enhance and expand the welfare and conservation of sloths through rescue, rehabilitation, release, research, and education. In addition, TSI works on targeted conservation projects to improve the safety and quality of sloth habitats and teaches other rescue centers how to better care for and release their sloths. TSI believes that all sloths were born to be wild and deserve that second chance at freedom.  

Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

GIVEAWAY

• One (1) winner will receive a copy of Destiny Finds Her Way
• US/Can only
• Ends 3/18 at 11:59 pm ET
• Enter via the Rafflecopter below
• Visit the other stops on the tour for more chances to win!

Blog Tour Schedule:

March 6^th— Pragmatic Mom

March 7^th  — Heise Reads and Recommends

March 8^th  – Mom Read It

March 9^th— Unleashing Readers

March 10^th— Imagination Soup

Three years ago, for the 5 year anniversary of #ClassroomBookADay, I started curating monthly recommendations to provide deeper book knowledge, support of a broader range of book creators, and create a way to have common books for participating educators to discuss. I called it #cbadSpotlight. Each month, September-May, I share four titles that I think deserve special attention and a place in your classroom read aloud rotation.

I hope you find titles you are excited about, some new to you, and ones that will support your efforts with your students this school year as you work to be inclusive and thoughtful with your #ClassroomBookADay read alouds! 

Shop for your #cbadSpotlight books at bookshop.org
to support indie bookstores + my work.

March 2023 #cbadSpotlight Titles

In My Mosque

Don’t miss out on this beautiful celebration of Islam and mosques as spaces for spiritual gathering!
Step in and discover all the rituals and wonder of the mosque in this lyrical debut picture book from M. O. Yuksel, with gorgeous artwork from New York Times bestselling illustrator Hatem Aly. A great conversation starter in the home or classroom, this book is perfect for fans of All Are Welcome and The Proudest Blue.
No matter who you are or where you’re from, everyone is welcome here. From grandmothers reading lines of the Qur’an and the imam telling stories of living as one, to meeting new friends and learning to help others, mosques are centers for friendship, community, and love.
M. O. Yuksel’s beautiful text celebrates the joys and traditions found in every mosque around the world and is brought to life with stunning artwork by New York Times bestselling illustrator Hatem Aly.

Sanctuary: Kip Tiernan and Rosie’s Place, the Nation’s First Shelter for Women

Before Kip Tiernan came along, the US had no shelters for women. Here is the inspirational story of a singular woman and what her vision and compassion have brought to life.
“Justice is not three hots and a cot. Justice is having your own key.” –Kip Tiernan
When Kip Tiernan was growing up during the Great Depression, she’d help her granny feed the men who came to their door asking for help. As Kip grew older, and as she continued to serve food to hungry people, she noticed something peculiar: huddled at the back of serving lines were women dressed as men. At the time, it was believed that there were no women experiencing homelessness. And yet Kip would see women sleeping on park benches and searching for food in trash cans. Kip decided to open the first shelter for women–a shelter with no questions asked, no required chores, just good meals and warm beds. With persistence, Kip took on the city of Boston in her quest to open Rosie’s Place, our nation’s first shelter for women.
Christine McDonnell, a former educator at Rosie’s Place, and illustrator Victoria Tentler-Krylov bring warmth to Kip Tiernan’s story of humanity and tenacity, showing readers how one person’s dream can make a huge difference, and small acts of kindness can lead to great things.

The Astronaut With a Song for the Stars

If you have a mission, a dream to explore, but no one like you has achieved it before…
Meet Dr. Ellen Ochoa-a determined space pioneer with a stellar symphony of talents.
Growing up in a family of immigrants, Ellen dreamed of becoming a professional flutist, but all of that changed when she discovered engineering in college. Though she was told that field of study wasn’t for girls, the bright young scientist refused to give up-ultimately becoming a NASA astronaut who shattered barriers and rocketed to success!
The Astronaut With a Song for the Stars: The Story of Dr. Ellen Ochoa is the fourth book in a riveting educational series about the inspiring lives of amazing scientists. In addition to the illustrated rhyming tale, you’ll find a complete biography, fun facts, a colorful timeline of events, and even a note from Dr. Ochoa herself!

Some Bodies

Our bodies! Our amazing, astounding, and all-around awesome bodies! Bodies come in all shapes, sizes, and colors, and can do extraordinary things. Our bodies are uniquely our own yet they connect us to the world around us in so many ways. Through playful rhymes and colorful engaging artwork, all the things that make our bodies special–from the texture of our hair to the color of our eyes–are celebrated. This sweet and inclusive book encourages young readers to acknowledge and accept differences, and offers the perfect opportunity to open up conversations about body acceptance. Every body is different and all bodies are good. Back matter includes tips and conversation starters for parents and educators to use with children.

Catch up on prior month’s #cbadSpotlight selections

If you missed any of the 2019-2022 selections, be sure to check them out!

As I was walking out from my job interview at my new school last spring, I saw a huge display on the library wall: March Book Madness. I learned it was a whole school event. And I have been seeing more and more librarians and teachers doing versions of March Book Madness over the years.

Back in 2013, I teamed up with my “sister classroom” teacher friend, Brian Wyzlic, to do a small version of March Book Madness with 7th and 8th grade language arts students using three genres of novels and picture books.

In 2015, the same year in which I started #ClassroomBookADay, Tony Keefer & Scott Jones took their classrooms’ version of March Book Madness even wider, with a site for schools all over to participate together.

This all came together in my mind as I was thinking about Read Across America this year. Being the first year in my new school, I wanted to do some sort of schoolwide celebration around literacy for March, and since the feedback I heard from staff at the school was overwhelmingly positive about last year’s “tournament,” I decided to really go for it – which meant I needed to pick some books!

The How

Instead of using someone else’s list, I wanted to customize one specifically for my school. With the number of days we had available due to a March spring break week, I decided to start with 16 titles. Initially, I printed a report from Follett Destiny® of the picture books with more than one copy in our school library. I went through that list and eliminated any they used last year, and I also highlighted my favorites. Then I narrowed it down to 16 titles, based on themes I felt would be good for our students to hear at this time. After that preliminary list, I did a diversity audit to ensure we would have an inclusive selection that mirrored our global society and to include some informational fiction. I wanted to ensure as many as possible in my school’s community could feel seen in the event. I also wanted to include a couple of outside-the-box thinking humorous and surprising titles I thought elementary students would connect with, along with some SEL and mental health titles.

I conferred with my library assistants and literacy coach, plus my principal and curriculum director, about the list. Because it would be a schoolwide event, I wanted to get other perspectives and opinions, and to ensure that all parties who might be approached about it were looped in. Finally, I looked at the pairings and, using my own expertise as well as a critical analysis of balancing each side of the bracket at the start and in later rounds, I decided on my pairings.

The Books

You can find my March Book Madness list for this year below and directly in Titlewave® also!

Follett Classroom has partnered with me to spread the #ClassroomBookADay message. As part of that, my themed picture book recommendation lists are housed in Titlewave, one of my favorite free databases for looking up all things related to book information! Don’t have your free account? Grab it today.

The Preparation

Last year, some of the staff did video read alouds for the titles, and the library ensured they had multiple copies of the books so teachers could choose how they wanted to share them with their classes. I knew I would need a few things to prepare:

• 16 picture book titles with multiple copies available
• A bracket image with the selected books, for projecting in classrooms and digital displays (Feel free to grab a copy in Slides here if you’d like!)
• A printed visual bracket with the selected books – we ended up connecting with a local graphics/printing company who took my bracket design and printed it on a 5 foot wide vinyl banner for the hallway display that we can just tape book covers on
• Links to recorded video read alouds of each title
• Google Sheet for voting on each pairing with tabs for each round – having teachers just do a raised hands count felt easier than having to access Google Forms & let kids vote when the books are fresh in their minds
• A calendar to track how many books need to be read in which days/weeks

We will be revealing the bracket at the end of the month at our schoolwide assembly and giving teachers a calendar for reading days, voting days, and rounds of the tournament. I was also able to partner with a local print shop to get a vinyl banner that we can reuse year after year and just tape the book covers on it to make it easier to kick off March Book Madness each year! We will be dropping off the books to grade level teams each morning and collecting them to rotate, to try to make it as easy as possible for them to participate. I can’t wait to see how much excitement we can build around reading and kidlit, and how the votes end up!

My 2023 March Book Madness Titles

Amy Wu and the Warm Welcome
Albie Newton
Blue Sky, White Stars (which we’ll read for Read Across America Day)
One
The Me I Choose to Be
Tiny Dino
A Case of the Zaps
I Want to Be a Vase
I Am Every Good Thing
Some Bodies
My Papi Has a Motorcycle
Papa, Daddy, & Riley
Cora Cooks Pancit
Spencer’s New Pet
We Are Water Protectors
The Many Colors of Harpreet Singh

I know a lot of educators have used the Read Across the Diverse Regions of America slides I’ve shared the last two years with video links, but it is getting more difficult to find read aloud videos that honor copyright laws and fit the parameters of regions and diversity I am looking for. So, for 2023, I am recommending titles for you to acquire that are set in specific regions across the United States. You can find more of my curated selection on Titlewave®!

READ ACROSS the Diverse Regions of AMERICA
2023 Edition

In choosing the titles for this year’s lists, I decided not to include titles that I previously used for my read aloud slides. You can still find those titles in Titlewave®, and on the 2022 slides below!

You can shop these lists & others to support independent bookstores + my work at my Bookshop page!

Because we cannot let nostalgia guide our decisions. Because we cannot allow racist or stereotyped imagery to be part of what we promote through our read aloud choices. Because we cannot refuse to move on from the past and bypass our responsibility to represent the entirety of what America is about today. 

I originally shared some of the information that follows in my 2021 post for Read Across America Day. Slides with embedded links to read alouds were updated in 2022.

Several years ago NEA changed the focus of Read Across America away from Dr. Seuss and to “Celebrating a Nation of Diverse Readers” – moving away from a singular focus on, and raising up of, one white male author who has a history of racist imagery* and toward a year-long celebration of the diversity that makes our country what it is. Yet many schools still cling to the tradition without using a critical lens to consider what message the year after year celebration of just one author sends to students. Dr. Seuss can be both a beloved author AND ALSO problematic. So it’s time to move away from a day and week celebrating Seuss and into a focus on inclusive choices that more kids can relate to and showcase our nation as a diverse society.
*If you’re unaware of the issues with Dr. Seuss, see the links at the bottom of this post that provide helpful context.*

To help in efforts to have a more diverse & inclusive focus for students, in 2020 I shared a list of 50 inclusive picture book read aloud alternatives.
In 2021, I selected 5 titles for each of the 5 regions of the United States (Northeast, Southeast, South, West, Midwest) you could use to truly represent and Read Across the Regions of America. In 2022 I updated the title selection to ensure each had a copyright-compliant read aloud video available.

2022 Slides with Read Aloud Videos

^{You can also access the Google slideshow using this link. You can then save as a shortcut to your Drive.
It is not open for making a copy to protect the integrity of the work & ensure you will see any changes.
If you’re trying to share with students and getting blocked by enterprise Google settings, try using this published to the web version for sharing.}

If you are looking for alternatives to traditional purposes for Dr. Seuss books, this post from Teach for the Change on Instagram is a good starting point. 

*If you’re unaware of the issues with Dr. Seuss, these links will provide helpful context:
The Cat is Out of the Bag: Orientalism, Anti-Blackness, and White Supremacy in Dr. Seuss’s Children’s Books

Is the Cat in the Hat Racist? Read Across America Shifts Away From Dr. Seuss and Toward Diverse Books (School Library Journal)

Thread from The Conscious Kid in the #DisruptTexts slow chat

New Study Published on Racism and Dr. Seuss (School Library Journal)

You can see the slideshow below or the link will take you to the list in Follett Titlewave (you can sign up for a free account if needed):

bit.ly/WEMTA23books

Shop this list at Bookshop.org to support independent bookstores + my work.

18 Picture Books for Lunar New Year

Baby Loves Lunar Phases on Chinese New Year (available on epic!)

Bringing in the New Year

Chloe’s Lunar New Year

Dragon Dancer (available on epic!)

Dragon Noodle Party

Friends Are Friends, Forever

The Great Race: Story of the Chinese Zodiac

Grumpy New Year

I Dream of Popo

New Year

The Nian Monster

Nian, The Chinese New Year Dragon: A Beastly Tale (available on epic!)

Playing with Lanterns

Ruby’s Chinese New Year

A Sweet New Year for Ren

Tomorrow is New Year’s Day: Seollal, a Korean Celebration of the Lunar New Year

The Tray of Togetherness (available on epic!)

Year of the Cat

Some Additional Choices About the Lunar New Year Holiday

The Animals of Chinese New Year
PoPo’s Lucky Chinese New Year (available on epic!)
Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas (available on epic!)
New Clothes for New Year’s Day
A Gift
A New Year’s Reunion
Chinese New Year Colors
Tết Together
This is Tết!

Three years ago, for the 5 year anniversary of #ClassroomBookADay, I started curating monthly recommendations to provide deeper book knowledge, support of a broader range of book creators, and create a way to have common books for participating educators to discuss. I called it #cbadSpotlight. Each month, September-May, I share four titles that I think deserve special attention and a place in your classroom read aloud rotation.

I hope you find titles you are excited about, some new to you, and ones that will support your efforts with your students this school year as you work to be inclusive and thoughtful with your #ClassroomBookADay read alouds! 

Shop for your #cbadSpotlight books at bookshop.org
to support indie bookstores + my work.

Though we should, of course, read books about Black history, characters, experiences, and joy all year long, for Black History Month I wanted to put a specific focus on several newer books that will add a valuable perspective to your read aloud rotations.

A few other posts I’ve shared in recent years with more book recommendations honoring and celebrating Black lives and characters & using/discussing them in the classroom:
*Books to Pair – A Text Set Celebrating / Honoring / Uplifting Blackness (January 2023)
*#ClassroomBookADay Recommendations: Black Joy & Excellence (February 2022)
*100 Picture Books Including Black People and Communities & Why You Need Them (May/June 2020)
*Updated – Honoring Black Lives: A Virtual Picture Book Library (June 2020/January 2022)
*Is it offensive to say Black? Conversations We Can’t Avoid in the Classroom (February 2018)

February 2023 #cbadSpotlight Titles

An American Story

#1 New York Times Bestselling and award-winning author of The Undefeated, Kwame Alexander, pens a powerful picture book that tells the story of American slavery through the voice of a teacher struggling to help her students understand its harrowing history.
From the fireside tales in an African village, through the unspeakable passage across the Atlantic, to the backbreaking work in the fields of the South, this is a story of a people’s struggle and strength, horror and hope. This is the story of American slavery, a story that needs to be told and understood by all of us. A testament to the resilience of the African American community, this book honors what has been and envisions what is to be.
With stunning mixed-media illustrations by newcomer Dare Coulter, this is a potent book for those who want to speak the truth. Perfect for family sharing, the classroom, and homeschooling.

Because Claudette

From NYT bestselling author Tracey Baptiste comes a singular picture book that is both a biography about Claudette Colvin, the teen whose activism launched the Montgomery bus boycott, and a celebration of collective action.
When fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin boarded a segregated bus on March 2, 1955, she had no idea she was about to make history. At school she was learning about abolitionists like Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth, which helped inspire her decision to refuse to give up her seat to a white woman, which led to her arrest, which began a crucial chain of events: Rosa Park’s sit-in nine months later, the organization of the Montgomery bus boycott by activists like Professor Jo Ann Robinson and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the Supreme Court decision that Alabama’s bus segregation was unconstitutional–a major triumph for the civil rights movement.
Because of Claudette’s brave stand against injustice, history was transformed. Now it’s time for young readers to learn about this living legend, her pivotal role in the civil rights movement, and the power of one person reaching out to another in the fight for change.

The Legend of Gravity: A Tall Basketball Tale

In his author-illustrator debut, Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe-and Africana Book Award-winning illustrator Charly Palmer spins a tall tale about a neighborhood basketball hero.
Have you ever heard of Gravity? No, not gravity, the centrifugal force pulling us to the Earth. I’m talking about Gravity–the greatest ball player to ever lace up a pair of sneakers.
Gravity is the new kid on the Hillside Projects basketball team, the Eagles. He once jumped so high that his teammates went out for ice cream before he came back down. With Gravity on their side, the Eagles feel unstoppable. They’re ready to win “The Best of the Best,” Milwaukee’s biggest and baddest pick-up basketball tournament. But when they face-off with the Flyers in the final round, the winningest team in the whole city, they realize that it may take a little more than Gravity to bring them to victory.
Here is a clever, energetic story about the unsung superstars walking among us, complete with vivid art and heartfelt themes of teamwork, loyalty, friendship, and fun.

My Red, White, and Blue

A powerful story about the mixture of pride and pain that one Black family finds in the American flag, and an invitation for each of us to choose how we relate to America, its history, and the flag that means so many things to so many people.
What does the American flag mean to you?
For some, it’s a vision of hope and opportunity. For others, it represents pain and loss. And for many, it’s more complicated than that–a symbol of a nation where the basic ideas of freedom and equality are still up for debate.
From slavery and segregation through Rosa Parks and Barack Obama, the history of Black people in America is a mixture of pride and pain. And while the flag might mean different things to different people, with some choosing to kneel and others to salute, ultimately, it is up to each of us to decide: the American flag is ours to see and relate to as we choose.
In this powerfully validating story that showcases many facets of Black American history through the eyes of a young Black boy in conversation with his grandfather, we are all invited to choose how to relate to America, and to the flag that means so many things to so many people.

Catch up on prior month’s #cbadSpotlight selections

If you missed any of the 2019-2022 selections, be sure to check them out!